Paul KarrerChemist

Paul Karrer (21 April 1889 – 18 June 1971) was a Swiss organic chemist best known for his research on vitamins. He and Walter Haworth won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1937.
Karrer was born in Moscow, Russia to Paul Karrer and Julie Lerch, both Swiss nationals. In 1892 Karrer's family returned to Switzerland where he was educated at Wildegg and at the grammar school in Lenzburg, Aarau, where he matriculated in 1908. He studied chemistry at the University of Zurich under Alfred Werner and after gaining his Ph.D. in 1911, he spent a further year as assistant in the Chemical Institute. He then took a post as chemist with Paul Ehrlich at the Georg Speyer Haus, Frankfurt-am-Main. In 1919 he became Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Chemical Institute.
Karrer's early research concerned complex metal compounds but his most important work has concerned plant pigments, particularly the yellow carotenoids. He elucidated their chemical structure and showed that some of these substances are transformed in the body into vitamin A. His work led to the establishment of the correct constitutional formula for beta-carotene, the chief precursor of vitamin A;

Personal details

Education

1. University of Zurich Colleges/University

The University of Zurich (UZH, German: Universität Zürich), located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy.

Awards won

1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

1922 Marcel Benoist Prize

Awarded for

Presented by

Discipline

Award shared with

Marcel Benoist Foundation

Namesakes

1.Karrer

Impact crater

Karrer is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the northeast of the crater Minkowski, and south of Leavitt. The most notable feature of this crater is the dark-hued floor, created when the interior was resurfaced by lava flows that had a lower albedo than the surrounding terrain. The outer rim is nearly circular, but broken in the northeast by a smaller overlapping crater. The inner wall has the same albedo as the surrounding terrain, and marks the perimeter of the flooded floor. The rim is somewhat worn, particularly in the north next to the overlapping crater. On the floor is a lobate scarp that was formed as a result of contraction of the lava. The scarp extends southward across the middle of the crater, past the rim and onto the surrounding highlands.